2021 invitation to sell!

After a tumultuous 2020 in the Cape Town property market, many people are wondering what's in store for the market in 2021.

Ryan Greeff, Director at Greeff Christie's International Real Estate - City Bowl, Northern Suburbs, Atlantic & Western Seaboard, says that "with the President reintroducing Alert Level 3 measures at the end of 2020 in an effort to combat the country's soaring levels of Covid-19 cases, the question on everyone's minds was: "how would the new restrictions affect buyer sentiment as well as affordability as we entered into 2021?"

"So far, activity levels have remained stable within the Cape Town market, showing relatively consistent numbers year-on-year which is hopefully a sign of positive things to come for the rest of the year."

Marthinus Botha, Greeff Christie's International Real Estate - City Bowl, Northern Suburbs, Atlantic & Western Seaboard area Managing Director notes that "in the first quarter of 2020 when initial restrictions where imposed, the market had an abrupt aftershock that was felt throughout the Western Cape property market for several months which kept a number of purchasers from participating in the  Cape Town market. More recently, however, we haven't noticed the same response which indicates that the country is embracing the scaling up and down of alert level restrictions as the new norm."

Josh van Tubbergh, Senior broker at Greeff Christie's International Real Estate says, "optimism seems to be commonplace around the globe with vaccines currently being rolled out, or on the way in most countries. Hopefully, this much-needed opportunism will bode well for property demand in the Cape Town  area this year and prevent purchasers from holding back."

"Currently, there certainly seems to be more of a "risk-on" sentiment in the market, which appears to be a common trend with emerging markets around the globe over the past several months. Domestically, there are however big fiscal question marks hanging over the country as we move forward into the new year which has the potential to adversely affect this sentiment as we've seen in the past. All eyes will be on the finance minister's budget speech later this quarter which should reveal how the economy has coped through the pandemic and what potential long lasting economic impacts the country may face this may have in the short to medium term, as well as the interventions government plans to put in place to counteract these future challenges. Until then, sellers should seriously consider taking the opportunity to get their properties listed now whilst the market is relatively steady as we will no doubt enter periods of uncertainty this year" van Tubberg concluded.

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